Landscaper integration

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing landscaping integration into a watering system or water management system. The system may include a processor with programmable landscape events or pre-programmed landscape events. A user may select or enter in landscape events to manipulate a watering or irrigation schedule based on the landscape event. The system may also be pre-programmed to a landscape event based on recurring or scheduled events to alter watering or irrigation. A landscaper may access a system on an electronic device that may be linked to a cloud based platform for managing the system or systems to allow for alteration and manipulation of watering and irrigation times and durations based on landscape events.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application incorporates the following patent application, in itsentirety, by reference: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/165,482entitled WATERING SYSTEM and filed on May 26, 2016.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to a method of manipulating a wateringsystem, and more specifically to integration of landscaping events intosystems and methods for manipulating the watering systems so as toprovide ideal conditions for the landscaping event. For example,entering a landscaping event of planting trees in a location and havingthe watering system turned off for a duration of time and in a specificwatering zone to allow a landscaper to plant the trees without thewatering system coming on.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Landscapers often have to go into a system, or multiple systems andmanually manipulate controllers in order to manipulate the wateringsystem and watering sequence of a landscape in order to perform alandscape event. If the landscaper doesn't change the system than thelandscape owner usually has to change the watering system to change thewatering sequence so the landscaper can perform his or her job.

Many businesses and users need water to maintain the grounds of theirbusiness facilities and their residences. Some estimates posit thatlandscape irrigation accounts for nearly one-third of all residentialwater use, and totals almost nine billion gallons per day. Much of thatwater is wasted due to inefficient irrigation methods and systems.Likewise the ability to manipulate those systems is very difficultbecause a user has to go into each controller and change the settings toallow a landscaper to perform an event. Sometimes just the simplicity ofmowing a lawn can take unnecessary effort of a landscaper or other userso the lawn can be mowed without it being two wet, or two dry andharming the landscape.

As a result, landscapers, owners and water users are looking for optionsto easily change the watering sequence to allow for landscape eventswithout negatively impacting their landscape. However, doing so oftenrequires expertise in landscape irrigation and may require expensiveequipment. Furthermore, some landscapers, owners and water users areunsure whether they will ever recoup the investment they make in thesystem. Many landscapers, owners and water users forgo the benefits ofmore sophisticated irrigation systems and waste water as a result.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a method and system for providing a landscaper, oruser, the ability to manage and service a landscape by manipulating anirrigation system or watering system. In one embodiment a user will usea computer readable medium and a processor to utilize software to applychanges to a system, more specifically a watering or irrigation system,which may allow a user to input an event that will access the processorto send a signal to the controllers and thus to the irrigation orwatering system that will change the manner, nature or sequence ofwatering dependent on the event entered. These events may include lawnmowing, tree planting, flower planting, tree trimming, landscape changessuch as grass planting, flower bed formation and many other landscapeevents. These events entered into a system may lead to increased ordecreased watering times; watering in the mornings, afternoon, eveningsor nights; skipping watering times; adding additional watering times.

The method and system may require a computer, tablet, cell phone orother computing device with a processor for carrying out the actions ofthe entered event (landscape event) and a compatible watering system.The system may be communicated with through Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellularcommunication, radio frequency or the like in order for the system andmethod to function properly. The method and system may include automaticcorrection and/or customizable correction of watering and irrigation.The system and method may utilize and communicate with weather outletsand forecasters to adequately provide enough water or moisture to thelandscaped area along with the event entered by a user or landscaper.The system may manually, automatically or be customized to adjustwatering to the weather forecast or the current weather as well.

The system may be maintained on a platform that is either on the cloud,or physically housed in a separate location, or at the location of thewatering system. The system may provide notifications to the user orlandscaper (as well as the owner of the property) after the event isentered into the system and the signal is provided to the system,through the processor of the computer readable medium based on thelandscape event.

The system and method may also involve dynamically adjusting wateringsystem remotely on factors such as forecasted rain, forecastedtemperatures, high winds, and other weather-related events that mayaffect the watering system and facilitate water conservation and notsolely based on the landscape event.

Other aspects, as well as features and advantages of various aspects, ofthe present system and method will become apparent to those of skill inthe art though consideration of the ensuing description, theaccompanying drawings and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic of a watering management system withcontrollers, zones a processor an electronic device and a userinterface;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic of an embodiment of a processor with aninput function, a control unit, memory, a logic unit and an outputfunction;

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram which may be used by the processor ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an alternative process flow diagram which may be used by theprocessor of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates a user interface of FIG.1, which may include a “popup”, to enter a landscaping task that a user may choose;

FIG. 6 illustrates a sample list of tasks or reasons from a drop downmenu for a user to enter into the interface of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 illustrates is an alternate embodiment of the interface of FIG. 5for a user to enter a landscaping task or event into a system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring in general to the accompanying drawings, various embodimentsof the present invention are illustrated to show the system and methodsfor a watering system. It should be understood that the figurespresented are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent actualviews of any particular portion of the actual embodiment structure, butare merely schematic representations which are provided to more clearlyand fully depict embodiments of the system and method.

The following provides a more detailed description of ways to implementthe present system and method and various representative embodimentsthereof. In this description, functions may be shown in block diagramform in order not to obscure the present disclosure in unnecessarydetail. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the artthat the present invention may be practiced by numerous other solutions.

In this description, some drawings may illustrate signals as a singlesignal for clarity of presentation and description. It will beunderstood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the signal mayrepresent a bus of signals, wherein the bus may have a variety of bitwidths and the present invention may be implemented on any number ofdata signals including a single data signal.

FIG.1 illustrates an irrigation or water management system 10, orsystem) for remotely managing one or a plurality of watering systems.The watering management system 10 includes a cloud based platform 12, orcentral computer, with a processor 14 in communication with a single ora plurality of individual, remotely located watering systems 16, 18, 20.Each watering system 16, 18, 20 may include a controller for controllingthe application of water by the watering system 16, 18, 20 at one ormore stations corresponding to a particular portion or area of thewatered landscape. Each watering system may be controlled by the owner,leaser, landscaper or other supervisor of the landscape. While eachspecific watering system may include its own controller each controllerreceives signals, either wired or wirelessly, from a central computer orcloud based platform 12 processor 14 to perform certain functions via asoftware interface or user interface 24.

The cloud based platform 12 may be a processor 14 accessible using theInternet or a system accessing the cloud using the Internet. While FIG.1 illustrates the cloud based platform 12 as a single computing device,in certain embodiments, running software to execute the irrigation of alandscape. The cloud based platform 12 and processor 14 may play host toa plurality of watering systems each with their specific parameters forwatering while not requiring a specific cloud based platform or serverfor each different watering system and access is only granted to thosespecific users needing access to their property while not having accessto other's watering systems. However, it will be appreciated that aplurality of separate computing devices working together may provide thefeatures described herein. In another embodiment, the cloud basedplatform 12 is a desktop processor running software to implement themethods described herein.

The cloud based platform 12 once accessed may include the user interface24 that allows users to access one or more functions of the wateringsystem. The user interface 24 may be a graphical user interface (GUI)that runs on the cloud based platform 12 and allows a user to interactwith the cloud based platform 12 through an electronic device 22, whichmay be a computer, tablet, phone or other computing device that may havewired or wireless access to the cloud based platform 12 via acommunication link 32. The user interface 24 may also include one ormore application programming interface (APIs) that allows one or morecomputer programs to access the functionality of the processor 14 of thecloud based platform 12.

The cloud based platform 12 may store specific information about eachwatering system 110, 112, 114. Such information may include specificinformation about each station in the watering system (e.g., the type(s)of valves, the number and type(s) of sprinkler heads on each station,etc.). In addition, the cloud based platform 12 may store information onthe area, topography and type(s) of landscaping covered by each stationof the irrigation system 16, 18, 20.

The cloud based platform 12 may also communicate with one or morewatering systems 16, 18, 20. The watering systems 16, 18, 20 may includecontrollers within each watering system 16, 18, 20 the controllerscommunicating with the watering system 16, 18, 20 itself or thecontrollers may communicate with the cloud based platform 12 itself. Thewatering system 16, 18, 20 communicates with the cloud based platform 12using communications links 26, 28, 30. The communications links 26, 28,30 may be wired communications links (such as telephone, or Ethernetconnections), wireless communications links (such as Wi-Fi, cellular,radio frequency or other), or a combination thereof. The controllers maycommunicate information with the watering system 16, 18, 20 which thenmay relay that information to the cloud based platform 12 using anappropriate communications protocol such as TCP/IP. Each controller maycommunicate water flow information from each station of the wateringsystem 16, 18, 20. In addition, the cloud based platform 12 may beconfigured to receive information about the amount(s) of non-irrigationwater (e.g., precipitation, water from nearby sources, etc.) to whichone or more parts of the landscape to which each station of the wateringsystem corresponds is exposed. Such information may be collected in anysuitable manner known in the art (e.g., with automated rain sensors,etc.). The information, after gathered, is implemented into the softwarewhich executes commands or executes questions for the user to interactwith to either automatically or manually adjust the watering systembased on the new criteria.

In some embodiments, the cloud based platform 12 may also collectclimate information which integrates into the software to executecertain protocols based on the information gathered. The climateinformation may include weather forecast information (e.g., temperaturesat various times of the day, humidity forecast, cloud cover forecast,precipitation forecast, etc.) and/or real-time weather data (e.g.,current temperature, current humidity, current cloud cover, currentprecipitation and up-to-date precipitation levels, etc.). Other types ofinformation may also be stored and/or collected by the cloud basedplatform 12.

The software in the cloud based platform 12 may also be configured toimplement an irrigation management plan that includes irrigationprograms for each of the stations in the watering system. The irrigationmanagement plans may be unique to each watering system 16, 18, 20. Inother embodiments, the irrigation management plans for like wateringsystems (i.e., those with similar landscapes) are the same. The softwareof the cloud based platform 12 may communicate the irrigation managementplan to the controllers for each of the irrigation systems 16, 18, 20,which controls then implement the irrigation management plan at thelocation.

The user may log in to the cloud based platform 12 via any computer,laptop, tablet or smart phone or the like. Logging into the cloud basedplatform 12 may enable a user to manipulate the settings and changecontrols of the watering system, enter in an event for the landscapethat is pre-programmed into the system to manipulate a wateringschedule, which may be an original schedule, a standard schedule or thereversion schedule, to accommodate the landscape event, or implement anew irrigation plan or any other variation. The user, after logging in,may also be able to permit other users to access the watering system(s)on the cloud based platform 12 to allow multiple users the ability tomanipulate the watering system.

In addition to including a cloud based platform 12 and a plurality ofremote irrigation systems 16, 18, 20, a watering system of the presentembodiment may include one or more mobile devices that communicate withthe cloud based platform 12. Each mobile device may comprise a portableelectronic device of a type known in the art, such as a smart phone, atablet computer, or the like. The mobile device may access the cloudbased platform and display notifications requested by the user regardingeach monitored irrigation system 16, 18, 20 from the cloud basedplatform 12 and, in some embodiments (including embodiments where thecloud based platform 12 automatically controls the monitored wateringsystems 16, 18, 20 and embodiments where the cloud based platform 12does not automatically control the monitored watering system 16, 18,20), to enable remote control over each monitored watering system 16,18, 20 either through the cloud based platform 12 or directly.

In one embodiment, applications for mobile devices may also beconfigured to receive reports from the cloud based platform 12 of alandscape event and the adjustments implemented by the systemaccordingly. For example, the property owner may have a mobile devicewith an application for receiving reports concerning landscape eventsand changes in watering schedule from the cloud based platform 12. Wherethe property owner has multiple properties to manage a single access tothe cloud based platform 12 can allow the user to access each locationwith a single device and single recurring fee. The property owner may beable to consolidate reports, notifications, alerts and the like for themultiple properties.

In another embodiment, the user may be able to enter commands beyond thepre-programmed landscaping events for the entire system or for eachspecific controller into the application, which commands are sent toeach respective system and/or controller. The user may be able tooverride the irrigation management plan using the application. The usermay, for example, cause the controller to perform extra watering for aparticular station using the application on the mobile device after alandscape event has prevented the watering of a specific zone. Theapplication may provide for automatic or manual return to previouslyprogrammed watering schedules based on the logic feedback by the user orthe watering system itself. The cloud based platform 12 may report thecompletion of landscape events or return of typical watering schedule oran adjustment to a watering schedule based on the landscape event. Auser or an irrigation manager, can take such information into account indetermining the cost effect of user-directed watering. The cloud basedplatform 12 may similarly track user-directed watering events that areinitiated from a controller. An “irrigation manager” is an individualwho may install, service and program the watering system for a user. A“task manager” is an individual in charge of the landscaping event.

For purposes of this disclosure a “landscape event” can be any eventinvolving landscaping, including, but not limited to, new flowersinstall, tree planting or install, altering the landscape, shrubplanting or install, pruning, gardening, weeding, sod or grass seedinstall, lawn mowing, lawn and other plant service(s).

FIG. 2 illustrates the processor 14 and flow of information to, withinand out of the processor 14. An input 34 may flow into the processor andsuch input may be a plurality of commands that may be pre-programmed ormay be programmed directly to input the processor 14. The input 34 maycome from a command from a user or from a sensor within the wateringsystem 10. The processor 14 may include memory 42 that maintainspre-programmed information including commands and schedules based on theinputs coming from the user or irrigation manager. The memory 42 mayalso be able to maintain and store new commands that input newinstructions to the processor based on user input. Likewise theprocessor may “learn” from the inputs from a user to manipulate theprograms and pre-programmed material for future interfaces by the userwith the processor 14.

The processor 14 utilizes the programs in the memory to go through thelogic unit(s) 40 that then signal the control unit 38 to output 36 acommand to a controller of the watering management system 10.

FIG. 3 illustrates a possible configuration of logic 100 that may becarried out within the processor to control the watering managementsystem 10 and its setting in response to input 34 from a sensor or auser. The processor 14 may start the logic (102) by receiving an input34 from a user or sensor, retrieve a pre-programmed landscape event(104) from the memory 42. In the case of a user or sensor input 104 theinput may include watering times, specific watering zones, orsprinklers, and watering amounts. A user may be required to inputspecific information in relation to the event input if not alreadymaintained or stored in the memory 42.

The task manager may receive notification of a landscape event (106) andmay manually override the program or pre-programmed schedule or mayaccept or agree to the landscape event (108). Alternatively theprocessor may notify a task manager (106) and then proceed immediatelyto initiate the watering schedule based on the landscape event (108); orthe processor may not notify the task manager and proceed immediately toinitiate the water schedule based on the landscape event (110). Thelandscape event may include a predetermined time to water or not towater a specified landscape area that may signal through the processorfor those predetermined times and then result in reversion back to theoriginal schedule after the predetermined scheduled landscape event(112).

Alternatively the landscape event may provide an adjustment in wateringthat remains (114) and a notification may be sent to the user or taskmanager of the new schedule (116). The notification being sent to theuser (116) is a step which may be utilized once, multiple times or maybe skipped entirely. Such new schedule could be a schedule of wateringon “off” days, watering at night, or discontinue watering all together.After the landscape event is complete a user may enter the completion(118) into the watering management system 10 that processes through theprocessor 14 signaling the controllers to return to the normalirrigation schedule (120). Furthermore, a landscaper may be able toinput details of the landscape event that took place such as duration,number of man hours, landscape event specifics and even costs.

Referring to FIG. 4 a separate logic sequence 200 may be carried outwithin a processor to control the watering management system 10 and itssettings. A watering system may be manipulated by a user or landscaperor may be automatic based on predetermined events (200) and may beretrieved from the watering system (202), which includes the userinterface 24, or where a drop down tasks menu 44 provides the landscapeevents that may be stored on the memory 42 of a processor 14 alreadypre-configured. The access to these landscape events may be on a mobileapplication or through other electronic means on a tablet, computer orthe like. The landscape event is identified from the predeterminedevents (204) and may be chosen from a list of events 46 (refer to FIG.6). The processor 14 may initiate an adjustment in the watering schedule(208) and provides an output signal 36 to the controllers of thewatering management system 10 to adjust the watering schedule inconjunction with that controller (210). Multiple controllers may bemanipulated from a single output signal and each signal may be the sameor may be different depending on the location of the controller and eachrespective zone of that controller. The processor 14 may then send asignal after a predetermined time based on the landscape event to eachrespective controller to return to the previous watering schedule (212)or in other words, revert to the schedule the watering management system10 was utilizing prior to the landscape event.

Referring to FIGS. 5-7, tasks may be predetermined and scheduled withinthe processor 14 such that a user can manipulate the user interface in amanner as easily shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Referring to FIG. 5, a user mayprovide dates and times 48 as well as zones affected 50 (from a dropdown menu or manually entered) in addition to the reason or task menu44. The task menu 44 may be the only input utilized and then “added toschedule” 52 by a mouse click or double click or finger swipe or othermeans in the art for signaling the processor from a mobile or computerdevice.

Referring to FIG. 7, a user may manipulate the landscape events orcreate new events that may be retained in the memory 42 of the processor14 or may create a one-time landscape event that is not retained in thememory 42. A user may “add a task” to the watering management system 10by entering in a description 54 as well as a schedule 56. The schedule56 may be one time, recurring or whatever the user enters into thesystem 10. A user may also, for the owner's benefit, provide a cost 58that may be associated with the owner's utilization of the system formonitoring and tracking water usage as well as landscape events. A usermay further enter zones affected 60 and or controllers affected and thenthe user sends a signal to the processor by “add to schedule” 62 whichis easily entered by a mouse click or double click or finger swipe orother means in the art for signaling the processor from a mobile deviceor computer device.

It will be appreciated that each watering system 16, 18, 20 may includea controller, a plurality of controllers as well as a plurality ofirrigation sprinklers which may include drip lines, large sprinklers,small sprinklers, mist systems or the like. In certain embodiments, theirrigation manager, owner, landscaper or other authorized users may makechanges to the tasks and the watering management system 10. The systemmay also provide for a user to input pictures or a change in thelandscape into the system 10. In the event of a change in landscape intothe system the user can input the landscape, similar to how the userinput the landscape event, to provide adjusting watering times anddurations based on the new landscape. In this instance after thelandscape event is complete the processor 14 may be notified of thechange of landscape and provide and output 36 to the controller for thatportion of the landscape and those the watering information may notrevert to the previously scheduled times and durations (i.e. previouswatering schedule) because of the changes in landscape.

Although the foregoing description contains many specifics, these shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the invention or of any of theappended claims, but merely as providing information pertinent to somespecific embodiments that may fall within the scopes of the inventionand the appended claims. Features from different embodiments may beemployed in combination. In addition, other embodiments of the inventionmay also be devised which lie within the scopes of the invention and theappended claims. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated andlimited only by the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Alladditions, deletions and modifications to the invention, as disclosedherein, that fall within the meaning and scopes of the claims are to beembraced by the claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for adjusting a watering system based on alandscape event comprising: connecting at least on processor to at leastone controller controlling the application of water of the wateringsystem; uploading at least one landscape event with a pre-determinedwatering schedule for the at least one landscape event; conveyingcommand signals to the watering system controller from the processorbased on user interaction with the watering system; and watering alandscape based on the command signals provided to the processor by auser.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, accessing a cloudbased platform via an electronic device wherein the electronic devicecomprises one of a tablet, a phone, a smartphone, a computer, asmartwatch or a laptop.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising,selecting at least one landscape event from the uploaded at least onelandscape event.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising,manipulating the watering system by inputting commands to the cloudbased platform via the electronic device
 5. The method of claim 2,further comprising, sending at least one command from the electronicdevice to the processor based on the selection of at least one landscapeevent.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, sending a firstcommand from the processor to the controller to manipulate the wateringsystem based on the at least one landscape event. wherein the user sendsthe at least one command to change watering duration.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising, sending a second command from the processorto the controller after a predetermined duration of time based on the atleast one landscape event.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising,sending a second command from the electronic device to the processorbased on user feedback of the landscape event.
 9. The method of claim 8,further comprising, sending a third command from the processor to thecontroller to manipulate the watering system based on the secondcommand.
 10. A system for altering a watering system based on alandscape event, the system comprising: a processor programmed withpredetermined landscape events the processor configured to: receive asignal at a specific time for a standard landscape events; process thelandscape event based on predetermined duration of landscape events; andsignal a controller to alter a watering schedule based on the standardlandscape event; a controller connected to the processor configured toreceive signals from the processor; wherein the controller controls theapplication of water for a specified location.
 11. The system of claim10 wherein the a processor provides signals to a plurality ofcontrollers.
 12. The system of claim 10, comprising: at least one of acomputer, a tablet, a laptop, a smartphone or a smartwatch; and a userinterface.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality ofcontrollers react to a command provided by the processor based on thelandscape event.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least onelandscape event selection comprises a plurality of landscape event. 15.The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: signal acontroller after a pre-determined period of time based on the landscapeevent to revert to the original watering schedule.
 16. A system foradjusting a watering system, the system comprising: at least oneprocessor programmed with predetermined landscape events the processorconfigured to: receive a signal from a user interface selection from alist of landscape events; process the landscape event; and signal atleast one controller to adjust a watering schedule based on at least onelandscape event selection; at least one controller connected to the atleast one processor configured to receive signals from the processor;wherein the controller controls the application of water for a specifiedlocation.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein the at least one processorcomprises a plurality of processors; and the at least one controllercomprises a plurality of controllers.
 18. The system of claim 16,wherein the at least one processor provides signals to a plurality ofcontrollers.
 19. The system of claim 16 comprising: at least one of acomputer, a tablet, a laptop, a smartphone or a smartwatch; and a userinterface.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality ofcontrollers react to a command provided by the at least one processorbased on the landscape event.
 21. The system of claim 16, wherein the atleast one landscape event selection comprises a plurality of landscapeevent selections.
 22. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to: receive a signal of completion of alandscape event from a user; process the signal of the duration of thelandscape event; and signal the at least one controller that thelandscape event is completed and to revert to an original wateringschedule
 23. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one processoris configured to: receive a signal of completion of a landscape eventafter a pre-determined period of time based on the landscape event;process the signal of the duration of the landscape event; and signalthe at least one controller that the landscape event is completed and torevert to an original watering schedule